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ABU DHABI HSBC CHAMPIONSHIP

January 19, 2018

Rory McIlroy

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

RORY McILROY: The course, there was scores out there, obviously looking at the leaderboard, a few guys went low. But I hit the ball very well. I drove it well. I hit most of my iron shots very well. I gave myself plenty of chances, and that's what I'm going to have to do over the next couple of days, as well, if I want to try and win this tournament.

66 was good. There wasn't that many fireworks apart from the putt on the last.

Q. Bogey-free this week, tee-to-green looking superb. Must be very satisfying.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, very satisfying. I've done quite a bit of work over the off-season and worked on my swing and a couple little tweaks here and there. They seem to have paid off already. A couple little swing thoughts that I still have but it's nice to see that the work I put in on the range can translate onto the golf course, and that's been a great thing to see for me over the last two days.

Q. The difference between finishing 7- and 9-under is huge going into the weekend?
RORY McILROY: It's massive. With five shots to make up over the weekend is quite a lot especially with a bunched leaderboard, so to cut that deficit to three, I feel so much closer to the lead.

Feel like if I get off to a hot start tomorrow before the leaders go off and all of a sudden you're one back or tied or the lead, and then you're really in the tournament.

Q. You were all playing well together, what difference does it make playing with Tommy and Dustin?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, today, Dustin played awfully well, after the finish he had to come back out and play like that, he showed quite a lot of resilience. Tommy, as well. Tommy didn't play quite as well as he did yesterday, but he still shot 4-under par. He's right in the mix. We all played well. Everyone was hitting good shots. That's all we were seeing and it is nice when you play in a group like that, you feed off one another.

The first two days I've been really, really happy with, played really solid. Today was an improvement on yesterday just in terms of scoring. Feel like I hit the ball very similar. Gave myself a lot of chances. Probably could have been a bit better again but I'm right in the mix after two days, and you know, I'll really happy in that position.

Q. You guys are driving it so well, and DJ is the standard, world No. 1 and you're driving it right up there with him. How happy are you about that?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, it proves I'm back to full fitness and 100 per cent health. DJ is definitely the No. 1 player in the world right now and one of, if not the best driver of the golf ball and to be up there with him over the first two days proves to me that I'm doing the right things and gives me confidence going forward.

Q. Great way to finish?
RORY McILROY: It was a nice way to finish. Felt like I gave myself tons of chances on the back nine and it was sort of difficult to convert them. I always struggle to read these greens, the colour of them and I feel like I'm hitting good putts and they are just sliding by the edges. But it was nice, I stayed patient and feel like I got what I deserved on the last for staying so patient and it was nice to finish with a three, leapfrog a few guys and get myself into contention for the weekend.

Q. Was the task of staying patient a little more difficult today compared with yesterday because you were very pleased with that yesterday?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, a little bit. I guess whenever you're going out and you see that guys had got to double digits already, you sort of -- you know that there's good scores out there but again you just can't let that influence the way you play or try to press too much or influence your attitude, so I just, again, I tried to stay as patient as possible. I didn't birdie any of the par 5s, or the first three par 5s, anyway and made the eagle on the last. If I can tidy up that part of it a little bit, I feel like I've got a really good chance this weekend.

Q. How pleased are you with the ball-striking, the accuracy of the approach play?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, it's been really good. I've worked hard in the off-season and made a couple little tweaks here and there. It seems to have paid off. My wedge play is right where it needs to be. I think my iron play is good. I'm hitting the ball in the fairway which gives me chances to execute those iron shots and wedge shots. Everything's pretty good at the minute. Bogey-free after two days, I played well.

Q. Is it possible to say in layman's terms what the tweaks are?
RORY McILROY: Not really. Just a couple little things I was sort of setting it a little too flat, a little too sort of behind me, not controlling the downswing with my lower body. So more my upper body and I that was creating a two-way miss. Trying to get the lower body a little more active and try to control the swing more with the big muscles rather than the hands, and that's really helped.

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